Free vs Paid plans
G. M. Mehdi
12 replies
Share your experience for pricing plans that have worked for you.
We've seen cases of SaaS platforms offering 100% free plans(with limited features) to increase userbase and then they offer upgrades, etc.
Then on the opposite end is offering only a trial for a limited time with full unlocked features and then asking for the upgrade to continue.
Your thoughts and experience?
Replies
Ferenc Forgacs@feriforgacs
Gift Hunt
I'd go with a trial where all the features are available but for a limited time. Probably once the product became profitable I'd start to offer a free plan as well to attract more users and potential customers.
My experience is that free plans can attract the wrong type of "customers" and you can end up spending most of your time getting back to their requests and issues. I think this is something most of us can't afford at the beginning.
But as Ranuka said, it depends on the product.
Share
@feriforgacs Honestly considering going this route. Instead of a free forever plan, get a limited time version with full features unlocked.
I think free base plan is good if you are trying to build a startup and get investments from VCs or similar because it can be use to show growth. On my side I rather bootstrap and aim for profitability, so I am personally a fan of limited time trials to validate the price and if people are willing to pay.
@robertomorais We have been bootsrapping so far. I'm reconsidering my free forever plan now
@g_m_mehdi I've seem limited package free forever plans working before, so it might work for you. But I think it is important to understand if it is really bringing your business some value (converting some users or if you are going to use the number of users for marketing/data/etc) or just more work/costs. Like I said, my own experience wasn't good with it, so now I am always aiming on profit/revenue but there are always exceptions. Good luck!
SEO Reader
It depends on the product. From my experience, a Free base plan + upgrades available work really well for most digital marketing products.
@ranuka_herath mine is a product meant for digital marketers. It's a marketing automation platform that we just finished the front-end for. Check out 4bg.ca
WorkHub
Freebase plan + upgrade is one of my favorite pricing models, but it largely depends on the available resources and the product's development stage. It is difficult for products with limited budgets and resources to offer and sustain this pricing. Therefore, I believe that limited-time trials may serve them better.
@qudsia_ali Would love your review for 4bg.ca
It depends on the product and the target market. We have a premium plan as historically our target market don't have a huge budget so they get to experience the app benefits and then the app helps make the business case for the budget holders by customised reports.
@joanne_hurleyv1 That's what I'm thinking. To have masses use it for free to love it and upgrade.
we are working on a free with upgrades and when we monetize we can expand the free version with commercials.